


You're my best friend(I'll love you forever)

by luvrmin



Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: Best Friends, Clouis, F/M, Family Loss, Lee & Clementine - Freeform, Lee & Louis, Louis is Clem's anchor, Louis just wants to help Clem, Not Canon Compliant, Object Focus, Panic Attacks, Personal Experience, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Platonic!Clouis, trigger warning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-01
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:41:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22068697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luvrmin/pseuds/luvrmin
Summary: News of a loss completely shatters Clementine's whole world, but Louis is there to keep her centered.
Relationships: Clementine & Louis (Walking Dead: Done Running)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 9





	You're my best friend(I'll love you forever)

**Author's Note:**

> (trigger warning for anyone who needs one; panic attacks)  
> Note; I'm sorry if any part of this offends anyone, this is not meant to romanticize panic attacks in ANY way shape or form so if it feels like that, please let me know and I'll delete the fic immediately. thanks for reading.

Clementine Everett had been sitting in math class when it happened; one moment she was trying to solve an equation by using the Pythagorean Theorem, and then the next she was being called to the principal's office over the loudspeaker. She felt eyes on her as she packed up her things, but she knew the ones that held the most concern were the ones of her best friend Louis, who was the first to turn to look at her once her voice echoed inside the classroom. All signs of humor were gone from his face when she looked at him before exiting, and the last face she saw was his as the heavy door shut loudly behind her, making her flinch.

The walk was a short one, considering her math class was located directly down the hall from where the main office resided, and she felt sweat slick her palms as she pulled open the door and stepped into the warm office, multiple sets of eyes falling on her as she walked to the large mahogany colored desk that sat directly in the middle of the room, tapping her fingernails against the surface to get the attention of the secretary, who had a sympathetic look in her eyes when she finally looked up to meet the gaze of the short girl standing patiently in front of her.

“Clementine Everett right? Your guidance counselor and principal Carley are waiting in her office for you.” She was confused why her guidance counselor would be present for a meeting with the principal, but she just assumed her grades in math were slipping again, so she didn't think much of it as she entered the office and saw the somber expressions of the male and female who were expectantly waiting for her.

“Hey Clem, go ahead and have a seat for us.” Luke, her guidance counselor since she had started school at Richmond, said in his normal comforting tone, but something about his words were sad, so she obliged and sat down in front of Carley, who smiled softly at her as she looked down at a paper in front of her, Clementine cringing as she thought of how angry Lee would be if he knew she was failing math again like she was last semester. The brown haired woman sat in front of her finally looked up at her, and her eyes were shining with unshed tears, which made the curly haired girl's eyebrows furrow in confusion.

“Is something wrong? If it's my math grade that's giving you trouble, Louis can be my tutor again. It helped.” Clementine figured bargaining would maybe soften the blow when Lee found out, but she was quickly proven wrong when Luke shook his head softly and stopped her flow of words, confusing her even further as he shared a look with Carley, who seemed to understand the communication he was trying to achieve by the way she turned to look at the young girl sat across from her. She looked so strong and brave and yet, so confused, and both adults in the situation hurt silently for what they had to do next.

“No honey, it isn't your math grade. Actually, it's something much more serious than that. We just received information from your uncle Kenny that your adoptive father Lee was killed in an automobile accident this morning shortly after departing from your home to meet your uncle for some work related things we aren't sure of. We are so sorry for your loss-” Clementine shot up from the desk and took off through the open door, ignoring the calls from the people inside the office asking her if she was okay as she burst out into the hallway and started for where she knew Louis was. She felt like she was going to pass out as she collapsed against the wall outside of her classroom, a loud ringing inside of her head as her breathing began to speed up, until she was sure she was going to die from lack of oxygen. Panic attacks were frequent for the young girl, but Lee was always around to calm her down when she thought she wouldn't be able to come back from them, and tears stung her amber colored eyes as her head fell to her knees, struggling to breathe as the world started violently spinning around her. 

“Clem? Clementine? It's me.” She felt a hand on her leg and she could barely make out Louis crouching down next to her, the classroom door shut behind him but the stares of her classmates cut into her skin anyways, making her cry harder as she fell against him, burying her face in his shirt as his arms wrapped around her shoulders, one hand going into her hair and the other staying on her back and rubbing comforting circles. 

Her body shook as her tears stained the fabric of his forest green shirt, but the dreaded boy paid it no mind, the only thing he cared about in that exact moment was Clementine, and making sure she was alright. She felt like she was going to die as her breathing came out in short spurts, and Louis realized after a few moments that she was having a panic attack. 

Although he rarely ever saw her in this state, he still immediately jumped into the headspace of Lee, who he had seen do a few exercises that always seemed to work when he was present, but his mind was blanking at the worst moment possible, and he let out a growl of silent frustration as he wracked his brain for anything he might have seen given her history, and something came to him, though he wasn't sure if it was going to be as effective as it was when he was little.

“Okay Clem, I need you to focus on anything that might be around you okay? We're going to try those breathing exercises that you and Lee do-” He was cut off by her pained whimper, and Louis flinched at the sound, never hearing his best friend sound so wrecked in the whole time he had known her, which had been a _very_ long time. 

He was in shock as he felt her hold tighten on him, but he still pushed aside his feelings of shock and continued forward with instructing her gently to focusing on his breathing pattern, which he hoped would help her somewhat but the action was nearly impossible given how hard she was crying while she attempted to mimic him, so he sifted through his brain until he had located the folder that had all the techniques and tips he had been taught by Lee when he had first learned of his best friend's attacks, and one stuck out to him more than most.

“We're going to try something else alright? I want you to find any object around us right now, and I want you to focus with all of your might on it. Nothing else matters except that object okay?” Louis said softly as he pushed some curls away from her face, and he could see her softly nod as she looked around the hallway with all of its lockers and club posters, and Clementine let out another spurt of quickened breath, startling him slightly as he looked down at her, watching her lips move rapidly as her eyes stared vacantly in front of where they sat on the floor, and he continued breathing with her as added support, and after a few more long minutes of switching between the two techniques, she was breathing normally again, shaky, but normally.

“Lee's dead Louis.” Clementine said so softly he had to bend his head down to hear her, and the boy's heart broke into a million pieces at the devastating news. Louis had respected and loved Lee so much, and was grateful for all the things the man had done for him over the years to make him feel accepted into the Everett family, but he felt even worse for the amber colored girl who now sat with her head tucked against his shoulder, who had thought the entire world of him.

“Clem, I'm so sorry.” He said softly, grabbing her hand and squeezing it tightly in his grasp, feeling the shorter girl squeeze back with what he guessed was the last of her energy, and Louis wished he could do something more for her than what he had, wanting to take her pain in the worst way possible just so she wouldn't have to bear this so heavily on her shoulders when the weight of the world already seemed to reside on them.

“What am I supposed to do Lou? What about AJ, and me? What's going to happen to us?” Clementine asked tearfully, looking over at her best friend with the most heartbreaking expression, and in that moment, Louis so badly wished he had the answers she was looking for, but for once in his life, _he didn't_. He didn't say anything, and she seemed to understand the hesitation, the answers unknown to herself as well, and she desperately wished that Lee was there to guide her like he had before, but he wasn't, and he would never be again.

“Look Clem, I don't know what will happen next for you and your brother, but I know that you won't be alone with whatever will happen, because I'm here and I've got you. Now and forever.” The dreaded boy promised as he held her hand, and Clementine looked over at her best friend with unshed tears in her eyes, a small smile gracing her chapped lips at the words. 

“Now and forever.” She echoed, squeezing his hand once more as her head fell back to his shoulder, and his chin rested on top of her head as the two best friends sat against the wall, the silence no longer overbearing for her. Clementine wasn't sure what was going to happen next for her, and neither was Louis, but what both teenagers were absolutely positive of was that no matter what happened, they were going to stand hand in hand to face it, and that alone was the biggest comfort she could ever feel in her life.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone, i just want to let everyone know that i will be infrequent with updates on here for quite some time as my beloved grandmother passed away on the 31st of December, and I need to be there for my family through this devastating time. This fic is just me venting in a way, so it's personal for that and because the panic attack scene was written from personal experience, so i felt like it was important clarifying that. I hope everyone had a good new years, and I hope that your 2020 had a better start than mine did. all the love.


End file.
